1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sprung mass damping control system of a vehicle for damping sprung mass vibrations that occur in the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a technology, called sprung mass damping control, for damping or suppressing sprung mass vibrations that occur in the vehicle body by utilizing suitable vibration damping means. For example, a technology of controlling the driving force of the vehicle in order to damp sprung mass vibrations of the vehicle is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-69472 (JP-A-2006-69472). According to JP-A-2006-69472, the driving force is controlled by increasing or reducing engine torque.
In the meantime, the sprung mass damping control is not necessarily executed in accordance with occurrence of sprung mass vibrations whenever sprung mass vibrations occur in the vehicle body. For example, the driver may not wish to have the sprung mass damping control executed because the driver feels uncomfortable, for example, or the behavior of the vehicle may be stabilized under another control (using, for example, a vehicle behavior stabilizing system or so-called VSC) without requiring execution of the sprung mass damping control. In this case, it is desirable to respect the driver's intention. Also, the sprung mass damping control may not be correctly carried out, depending on status conditions or running conditions of the vehicle.